MOBILE, Ala. — BayFest officials have announced the first confirmed acts for the 2008  BayFest Music Festival — country stars Rodney Atkins, Blake Shelton and Eric Church. All three performers will appear on the at&t/IP Casino Stage on Oct. 5. Church’s show will begin at 4 p.m. and he will be followed by Shelton at 5:30 and Atkins at 7:15.

Atkins has spent the past few years opening for some of country’s biggest acts.  But it seems his days as a supporting player are coming to a close. Curb Records signed Atkins in 1997 and released two Top 40 singles in 2002.

In 2003, the single “Honesty (Write Me a List)” climbed into the Top 5, and Curb finally released his debut album, “Honesty.”

However, his real breakthrough came in 2006 when his catchy single, “If You’re Going Through Hell (Before the Devil Even Knows),” gradually climbed to all the way to No. 1 on Billboard’s country airplay chart.  Since then, Atkins has had three additional No. 1 singles, including “Watching You,” “Cleaning This Gun (Come On In Boy)” and “These Are My People.”

Atkins was nominated for six Academy of Country Music Awards this year.

Shelton hit the country music scene in 2001 with the single “Austin,” from his self-titled album. “Austin” went on to spend five weeks as No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart and was followed by two additional Top 20 hits and a gold-certified debut album.

His second and third albums, “The Dreamer” and “Blake Shelton’s Barn & Grill,” were each certified as gold as well. Each album also produced another No. 1 (“The Baby” from the former, and “Some Beach” from the latter), as well as several more chart hits.

Shelton’s fourth album, “Pure BS,” was issued in 2007, producing two more Top 20 singles. In early 2008, he issued a cover of pop singer Michael Bublé’s “Home;” this cover, which also entered the Top 10 in May 2008, was also included on a reissue of “Pure BS,” which was released in May 2008.

Church’s first appearance on the national music scene came in 2005, as a co-writer on Terri Clark’s single “The World Needs a Drink,” a No. 26 hit on the Billboard country music charts.

Signed to Capitol Records in 2006, Church released his debut album “Sinners Like Me” that year.  This album produced three Top 20 country hits in “How ‘Bout You,” “Two Pink Lines” and “Guys Like Me,” as well as a No. 51 in its title track.

His fifth single, “His Kind of Money (My Kind of Love),” was released to radio in April 2008 as the lead-off to his upcoming second album, entitled “Carolina.”

Tickets for BayFest 2008 will be available at www.bayfest.com beginning on Aug. 1. Three-day passes are $35; one-day passes are $25 per day, and sold only at the gate.

Children 12 and under are free if accompanied by a ticketed adult. Those who purchase tickets at www.bayfest.com Aug. 1-Sept. 1 will be automatically entered to win a meet and greet with an artist of their choice (some rules apply).

The 13th Annual BayFest Music Festival will be held October 3-5 in the streets of downtown Mobile.

BayFest is the host of more than 125 national, regional and local artists that play on nine stages over a three-day weekend.

For more information, and complete artist lineup, visit www.bayfest.com.